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How to Restore a Database Using phpMyAdmin
This tutorial is for phpMyAdmin version 3.5.5. It may be the same or similar for other versions, but no guarantee is made. Note: the preferred method to restore your database is to use the restore database service provided by your web host. If your web host does not provide such services, then you can use this method for “small” databases. The definition of “small” depends on your php.ini settings. Because this method uses php to do the restoring there are two php limits you need to be aware of: 1) maximum file upload size: this is controlled by the entry upload_max_filesize = size in bytes in php.ini 2) maximum time a php script is allowed to run: this is controlled by the entry max_execution_time = number of seconds in php.ini These settings are usually not accessible to you … Read entire article »
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How to Edit .htaccess in cPanel
This tutorial is for users whose web hosting administration front end is cPanel version 11.34.1 (build 12). It may be the same or similar for other versions of cPanel or other web hosting administration front ends, but no guarantee is made. Sometimes it is necessary to edit the .htaccess file. By default, cPanel hides this file from the user. 1) Find the section titled Files and click on File Manager: 2) Select your website from the dropdown box (only necessary if you have more than one site). Check the Show Hidden Files (dotfiles). checkbox. Press Go: 3) Select the .htaccess file by clicking on it (just a single click – double-clicking will attempt to download it), then click on Edit icon to edit the file: Warning: incorrectly editing .htaccess can render your website unusable. Ensure you make … Read entire article »
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WordPress – Preliminary Impressions of Photon in JetPack
JetPack for WordPress now includes a feature called Photon: Photon works by using wordpress.com to cache and serve up images from your site. Since I am always looking for ways to reduce my bandwidth (and speed up performance), I enabled it. I have observed a reduction in the bandwidth: The 20th, 21st, and 22nd averaged about 3% fewer page hits than on the 25th – but it is obvious that (with Photon enabled) I used less bandwidth on the 25th . The 23rd and 24th are the weekend, so there is always a drop in traffic. I suspect the spike seen on the 24th is related to enabling Photon. Based on very limited data, Photon appears to be working well and is saving me some bandwidth. It does not require me to change anything about my … Read entire article »
How to Backup a Database Using phpMyAdmin
This tutorial is for phpMyAdmin version 3.5.5. It is probably the same for other versions, but no guarantee is made. Note: the preferred method to backup a database is to use the backup database service provided by your web host. If your web host does not provide such services, then you can use this method for “small” databases. The definition of “small” depends on your php.ini settings. Because this method uses php to backup a database there are two php limits you need to be aware of: 1) maximum file upload size: this is controlled by the entry upload_max_filesize = size in bytes in php.ini. This is not an issue for backing up the database, but it can be an issue when you try to restore a database (presumably, you backup up a database in case … Read entire article »
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When Your Website Stops Working Properly, it may be a Corrupt Database
This tutorial is for people using a web host that uses the cPanel interface (version 11.34.1). Instructions may be the same for other versions or interfaces, but not guarantee is made. When we set up a website, we expect it to keep working. Maybe we have to apply periodic updates and patches, but, in general, we expect it to keep working. Unfortunately, after a while, you may find your website, powered by Joomla!, WordPress, Drupal or some other CMS, stops working correctly. Common symptoms include: I have experienced all these on Joomla! and WordPress powered sites I run. Some or all of the comments disappear Some or all of the content disappears You get database connection errors Your layout / template starts looking a bit funny Pages you know exist start generating HTTP 404 Not Found errors URLs start looking funny A … Read entire article »
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XAMPP – Fixing ‘Strict Standards’ Errors
This tutorial is for XAMPP 1.7.4 and XAMPP 1.7.7. It addresses the problem of many errors being generated by popular PHP applications (notably Joomla!) that you would expect to work, but, instead, generate lots of errors. If you have installed XAMPP 1.7.4 or XAMPP 1.7.7, you may have noticed that some applications (notably Joomla 1.5.x, 1.6.x, and 1.7.x) generate lots of errors along the lines of: Strict Standards: Accessing static property JCache::$_handler as non static in C:\xampp\htdocs\joomla\libraries\joomla\cache\cache.php on line 420 This happens because these versions of XAMPP ship with default PHP settings that cause the PHP interpreter to choke on poor programming practices and deprecated (obsolete) language features. For developers, this is a good thing, but for the general user, it causes a lot of grief. (1) Go to the php directory under XAMPP. Normally, … Read entire article »
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CloudFlare – A Review
This review reflects my experience with CloudFlare‘s free services applied to this website which was powered by WordPress 3.2.1 running on a shared webhost. It looks at the performance for the month of December 2011. The Problem I was Looking to Fix As this site has grown in popularity, it uses more bandwidth. In October 2011, this site served up 5.84GB of data. November 2011, I was heading towards 9GB of data served. Currently, this site is hosted on a shared hosting plan with “unlimited” bandwidth. Well, nothing is unlimited, and I was concerned that as I used up more bandwidth one of two things would happen: (1) performance would suffer – since this is running on a shared host, I have to share the server and bandwidth with all the other … Read entire article »
How to Measure Your Website’s Performance
A fast loading website gives users of your site a better experience and leaves them with a better impression of your content than a site that is slow and sluggish to load. Nobody wants to wait 30 seconds for a page to load. The problem is how to measure it. Factors affecting page load time The following factors affect the performance of your site: Server Performance: How quickly your web can server serve up your content. If you are on a dedicated server (most expensive), then you are the only one using the server’s resources. If you are on a virtual host (less expensive), then you share the server with a number of other websites. If you are on a shared host (this is usually the lowest cost hosting package – most “unlimited” … Read entire article »
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Disabling the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS)
These instructions are for Windows XP with Service Pack 3. The procedure should be the same for other versions of Windows, but no guarantee is made. Some images may be clicked for full sized versions. Why would I want to disable the IIS? If you have installed Apache Server, either as part of a package (like XAMPP or AMPPS) or by itself, having IIS running will interfere with the Apache Server starting up. This is because only one service can use the Internet ports 80 and 443 at any given time, so if the IIS is using them, then Apache Server cannot. How to Disable the IIS 1) Click on the Start Menu button and select Run from the menu. (Or use the keyboard shortcut: windows key + R): 2) Enter services.msc into the dialog and click … Read entire article »
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Creating a MySQL Database Using AMPPS
This tutorial assumes that you have AMPSS 1.2 installed. The procedure should be the same for other versions of AMPPS. An AMPPS installation procedure for Windows XP can be found here. Normally, you would not need to create a database in AMPPS because the setup script will automatically do that for you. However, if you are installing an application that does not have a setup script provided by AMPPS (and it requires a MySQL database), then you will need to manually create a database. As well, if you are writing your own application and require a database, then you will also need to manually create one. Creating a Database 1) Open your browser and enter http://localhost/phpmyadmin. This will bring you to the MySQL setup page: 2) Click on the Databases tab: 3) Enter a name for the database, … Read entire article »
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